Relatives Remember Southfield Native Killed By Pirates
LIVONIA (WWJ) - Michigan relatives of a former Southfield woman killed by Somali pirates say she was having the adventure of a lifetime sailing the world on a luxury yacht.
Phyllis Macay and three others were shot to death Tuesday by pirates, who boarded their yacht Friday and took them hostage several hundred miles south of Oman.
Mccay's cousin -- Jeanne Ruff -- lives in Livonia.
"Phyllis comes from a large family and, yeah, they started out in Southfield," Ruff told WWJ Newsradio 950. "She went to Southfield High School and went on to Michigan State, and from there she moved out to Seattle, Washington ... started her own interior design business and also got into real estate. Phyllis was very ambitious and always ready to put two feet forward and help out every time."
Ruff says several family members are in contact with the FBI -- but she's been instructed not to talk about that.
Photo: Undated picture of Scott Underwood Adam and Jean Savage Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif., left, owners of the yacht S/V Quest; and a 2005 photo of passengers Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle, both of Seattle.
